Each year, traffic accidents kill thousands and injure many more. Too many of these accidents are due to the non-compliance by at least one driver to traffic laws, including exceeding posted speed limits, not stopping at stop signs, driving without seatbelts, and running red lights.
Studies show that there is a higher level of compliance with traffic laws and a correlating drop in traffic accidents when drivers are aware that their driving is being monitored by persons having the authority to mete out penalties, such as, for example, police officers. Unfortunately, many jurisdictions are not equipped to provide such monitoring in quantities that are sufficient to produce consistently positive results. Rather, the authorities are often reduced to such stop-gap methods as establishing temporary speed traps or randomly flagging down drivers for breathalyzer tests and seat belt checks.
Alternatively, automated monitoring devices may be implemented. While lack of compliance to traffic laws is of enormous concern and any tools that encourage safer driving habits are beneficial to everyone on the road, these automated devices are simply not as effective as live monitoring with regard to driver compliance with traffic laws.
Various attempts have been made to provide solutions to this non-compliance problem, by equipping private vehicles with cameras or other devices for the purpose of monitoring the activities of an individual driver and vehicle. Illustrative of such attempts are US2005259151 US2004113763, US5815093, US2003233261, US2003154009, and JP2005122671. However, these solutions rely on automated sensor activation and furthermore, are intended for individual use rather than for recording and monitoring general vehicular traffic activity.
There is a need for a system that enables a driver to create visual records, in real time, of specific traffic violations that occur around the driver, without distracting the driver from the primary task of driving, and that further allows each record to be transmitted to the appropriate reporting authorities.
The drawings together with the description make apparent to those skilled in the art how the invention may be embodied in practice.
No attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.